"H-hoo." Slumping back into my chair, I felt exhausted. Not so much physically, but ntally. The step wasn't particularly hard or painful. At least, when compared to the previous tis, it had been a lot easier. Perhaps, I had long been ready to reach the Fourth Order. Nevertheless, it was still rather exhausting. But—
"Herder, huh?" I closed my eyes and felt my new node. I didn't quite know what the new node did, but I had a hunch. 'If it's based on the fact that I did reach the Fourth Order before, even if I wasn't in the right state, it should be "that" skill, right?' I tried my best to hide my smile. If it really was the skill I was thinking of, then it would be a massive boost to my strength. Alongside the knife, I was almost certain my rank wasn't unjustified.
In fact, I had a feeling that I could probably rank even higher. But these were just my guesses. At the end of the day, I didn't truly know how strong I had beco. "...I guess I'll find out soon enough." I turned my attention towards the Conductor. It seed that the Conductor had cald down a little bit, its expression a lot more relaxed as it sat on the seat opposite , its hand over its interlocked legs. With its lips curling, it raised both hands and started clapping. "Congratulations. It seems like your ascent was successful." Clap! Clap—! I could tell that its praise was genuine, but the way the Conductor was clapping seed almost sarcastic. "Hm. It's not too bad." "It's certainly a start, but..." The Conductor paused, its hands stopping. "Are you satisfied with just this?" I frowned. "What do you an?" "I can see your strength has increased a lot, so much that you might even think you're as strong as those humans deed 'Paragons,' but…" The Conductor's eyelids opened, revealing its dark eyes once more. "...You're still not at their level. You might think that they're weak considering what had happened back on the island, but it was simply due to the fact that you had beco too strong." My frown deepened. The Conductor wasn't wrong, but was my strength really not comparable to theirs? If I went all out... "Why must you corrupt yourself for power?" The Conductor's words shattered my thoughts. "If you wish to beco powerful by turning, or by letting your mind be corrupted, then be my guest. I won't stop you. In fact, I'd encourage you to do so." A raw, ripping sound echoed as the stitches on the Conductor's lips snapped, its mouth pulling into a twisted, sinister smile. Coupled with its twisting eyes, my body subconsciously started to tense. "I'd love it if you could just return to what you were back on the island. The more out of control you are, the more amusing it is to ."
A sinister laugh escaped the Conductor's lips. It truly did seem to an its words. I was once again reminded of just how twisted this Conductor was. "...Unfortunately, I'm sure that you don't want things to progress in such a manner, correct?" "Yes." I didn't plan on losing myself anyti soon. "In that case, you're still far from strong. I'd even guess that your friend, 'Kyle,' is stronger than you." "...Maybe." "You don't sound convinced?" "I didn't say anything." "Well, it doesn't matter whether you believe or not. What matters is that you can beco far stronger than you are now."
"How? Don't tell it's by reaching the Fifth Order. I'm still—" "Of course not. You've just reached the Fourth Order. There's no way you could beco a Fifth Order so quickly. I'm talking about a different thod." I paused, letting the room fall into a state of silence. Then—
"What is the thod you're talking about?" I asked, trying my best to keep my voice even as I stared into the Conductor's deep eyes. Eventually, its lips curled further upward as the Conductor pointed at itself.
"How else?" A chuckle left its lips. "By acquiring another anomaly." Not finished, it added. "One as strong as myself." *
Clank—! Even as I left my office, the Conductor's words continued to ring inside my mind. It wasn't as if I hadn't entertained the idea of acquiring even more anomalise. So far, I had acquired four anomalies. The Realm Walker, Mirelle, Mr. Jingles, and the Conductor. I had yet to reach the limit on the number of anomalies that I could acquire. Although I didn't know what the limit was, I knew that I could still absorb two more without any problems. The only issue was that I didn't know which anomaly to acquire. Since I knew I couldn't just take in every anomaly I wanted, I had to be careful with my selection.
'But finding one that was just as strong as the Conductor?' This was a bit too much. In fact, it was practically suicide. I had been 'lucky' with the Conductor. Had it not been for the fact that it wasn't looking to kill directly, I would've already been dead by now. There was no guarantee that the next anomaly at that level would simply make a bet with . 'In fact, I should just quietly improve the skills of all my anomalies.' "Yeah, let's not rush this decision." There was still ti for to think about things properly. Making up my mind, I headed back to my room. I needed to get so sleep. *** The days continued to pass. A week and a half had passed before anyone knew it. Despite this, the excitent and controversy behind the ranking announcent had yet to calm down. In fact, it had only gotten worse. So much so that it beca impossible to leave the Guild without getting bombarded by questions. Nevertheless, everyone quickly adapted, and things moved on. The Guild officially beca a King-Grade Guild. This piece of news once again dominated the headlines. The birth of a King-Grade Guild was nothing short of trivial, regardless of where the Guild belonged. Added to the fact that this was the sa Guild that had dominated the headlines for the past week, it only added to the excitent of the situation. The online community was once again thrown into chaos. Even more reporters showed up at the front of the Guild, but despite all the chaos, within a certain room, aside from the rhythmic sound of keys being pressed, everything was relatively silent.
Click! Click! Click! It was as if the noise outside had no aning to them. And soon—
"Done!" Click! "I'm also done!" Click! Click! "...I'm also done. Final check complete." Click! Three heads raised in unison, turning toward the figure seated at the main desk, his dark eyes fixed on several large monitors. Quietly massaging the dark circles beneath his eyes, Seth eventually stopped. He reached for the mouse and checked a couple of things. The room bathed in silence as all attention remained fixed on him. And soon—
Click! A click echoed. Followed by a certain voice.
"I've sent it." Seth raised his head to look at the others, his expression even more lifeless than usual. "The update is live."
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